Loss

Haha, a "Man In The Box" knockoff for Dreamer's entrance. This match is really just a backdrop for Lawler and Paul E. to get into QUITE the heated debate at ringside. They should argue in every segment on every wrestling show.

A video sequel to Tell Me A Lie! The go-to video for when Shawn drops a title without losing it in the ring, I suppose.

Vince promises a big surprise as the Headbangers make their way to the ring, and sure enough, it's the returning Legion of Doom, who Vince is now willing to call the Road Warriors! They picked a great night with the right crowd to bring them back. Gotta love the "Nitro Sucks!" chants. Vince makes a big point about there being no fan censorship in the WWF, which is funny considering the company's track record. Weird that this isn't a squash where they steamrolled the Headbangers considering it's their first night back. This match should have gone two minutes. It's more competitive than you'd think, and the finish is a DCOR. Weird.

Lawler introduces Ken Shamrock at ringside. Shamrock's first appearance on WWF TV. Lawler credits himself for teaching Shamrock what he knows, and Shamrock says he has no idea who Lawler is.

A ring attendant eats a Total Elimination and the crowd goes nuts. The BWO is on RAW. My favorite line of the Lawler/Paul E. banter: Lawler: Another ECW ripoff? Paul E.: OF WHAT? Vince makes his funny comment about the BWO not being affiliated with the NWO clothing line. I can't possibly document everything noteworthy in these segments, and I'd be a fool to try. Good little match, by the way.

Last few minutes. Savage is at ringside and ends up helping Hogan win, then attacking Piper and joining the NWO. The storyline here is that this is the only way Savage can get back in, but the good thing about this is that Savage just decides to do business and put the past in the past, instead of working the reluctant heel angle. Still, this is a clever way of making clear from a storyline perspective that Hogan owns Savage, and I'm sure that wasn't something lost on Hogan.

Last few minutes. Giant was on his own here, as Luger had an arm injury and Bischoff wouldn't allow Luger clearance to work this match. Nash powerbombs The Giant in an impressive spot. Luger finally comes out to be in his partner's corner. Bischoff tries to cut him off and Luger throws him aside. Luger racks Nash, and he and The Giant win the WCW tag titles. For good measure, The Giant chokeslams Hall and has the referee count him down for the pin too, with the story being that he did that to ensure that Bischoff couldn't reverse the decision. A for effort, but I'm pretty sure this decision will not stand.

Last few minutes. Not a good match and not much heat. For the finish, Syxx is about to hit Malenko with the cruiserweight title. Eddy shows up and tries to pull the belt away from him, but when he lets go, the momentum propels him to hit Malenko with the belt and secure a pin. The NWO has another title.

I found myself drifting in and out of this match, so I took a break before watching it again. I enjoyed it much more the second time around, once again for Ozaki's performance. This doesn't touch Kudo vs Kandori, but it's very similar to many of Ozaki's better brawls with Dynamite Kansai in previous years. Ozaki has that Dump Matsumoto vibe where there's not really much her opponents can do to her to make her feel their pain because she is already such a sociopath. There is a lot of downtime in this match, specifically in a spot when Ozaki is on the floor selling and Chigusa just stands in the ring. Because everyone's reaction to it was so cavalier, it was almost like Ozaki asked for a timeout so she could tie her shoes. While Chigusa really, really seems like yesterday's news in 1997, I give her a ton of credit for working overtime to get Ozaki over as a threat. Ozaki is really impressing me so far in 1997, but Chigusa just seems along for the ride.

Yeah, Boss Man had quite a bit of respect within the company for drawing so big on house shows against Hogan a decade earlier. Vince was a big fan. I guess it is less of puzzling signing and more puzzling use. I remember suspending my belief as a smarky teen and saying "... but Bossman was so mad when Heenan was talking about his mom" during the Big Show angle. Ha. Ha! I remember being upset that they didn't explain how Rick Rude was able to get Jack Tunney's ban lifted when he returned as Shawn Michaels' insurance policy nearly 7 years later.

Yeah, Boss Man had quite a bit of respect within the company for drawing so big on house shows against Hogan a decade earlier. Vince was a big fan.

Good article. Minor correction that I think adds even more to the general narrative of the article. The tradeoff to Bischoff kissing Beth wasn't even a win at Starrcade. Flair beat him the next night on Nitro, but Bischoff got to pin Flair first.

I shouldn't talk about Bret Hart, given my history of having a seemingly personal problem with him. Not that I disagree with a single word you said about Flair here or in the other posts (I just quoted this one because I wanted to quote so it was clear who I responding to), but this just reminds me of how much that little cheapshot you took at me offended me, and how hypocritical it is.

I think this is the first Super 8. Well, I didn't expect to see Lou Albano and Sir Oliver Humperdink here. Nothing match, but an interesting piece of trivia. Ace Darling wins.

Brian Lee is beating up Stevie Richards on orders from Raven. Lori Fullington tries to stop this and eats a Raven DDT. Tommy Dreamer tries to make the save and gets attacked as well. Finally, The Sandman and Tyler make the save and Raven eats a few cane shots and a DDT. Sandman pins Raven before taking off. Sandman has his big emotional hug after the match to reunite with his son and the crowd is nice enough to applaud. So, so weird.

Shane Douglas is so overly literal in his promos that it makes me laugh. Listen to his description of the TV title and what being TV champ means and you'll see what I mean. Brian Lee and Chris Candido, who is hilarious, also have a few words. This is followed by a clip of a house show altercation between Sabu and Taz at a recent house show.

Taka, Mens Teoh and Dick Togo are quickly interrupted by the BWO and offer Team Taka a chance to join.

Sasuke, Hamada and Naniwa interview! Sasuke calls ECW the #1 company in the USA.

Raven cuts a promo in looks like what might be an NYC subway station. He points out that Dreamer has never beaten him, and that Terry Funk is old, washed up and a has been. "My father beat me, Terry Funk, and I'm going to beat you the same way." Just when I'm trying to give Raven a second chance and starting to warm up to him a little bit, he starts talking about how he was beaten and molested growing up and continues this promo far longer than needed. Too much.

I'm sure Dundee had a few good performances still left in him this late, but I prefer Brian Christopher as a tag team partner to Lawler by this time just because he's developed into a really solid worker. This is the best of the tags so far, because they work the typical Southern schtick into a more action-packed match. It's cool how PG-13 instinctively switch gears in pacing when Lawler or Christopher tag in and out. The Spellbinder runs in for the DQ and attacks Christopher, then the ring fills up with other wrestlers like King Reginald, Flash Flanagan and Billy Joe Travis. Schmozz central.

This was an excellent match that could have been better, despite some really great moments. It took far too long to get past the opening distractions. I also thought it was a weird layout choice for Rey to dominate most of this and even to win the first fall. Based on the handshake and crowd support, I'm guessing that Santo was not a rudo outside of CMLL, but this match might have been better if he was. Rey's camel clutch escapes were a highlight, and I thought it was cool that Santo treated Rey as an equal instead of playing up the size difference. As much as I did enjoy this, I think there was some lost potential in this match too.

Not much to this match other than fast-paced sequences that don't really build off of or to anything, but 1997 was a weak year for AAA anyway.

Hogan is gloating about Piper at SuperBrawl, and Sting and Savage are quickly out. Sting is about to confront Hogan when he says he put WCW on the map and Savage whispers something in his ear to make him stop.

Piper at his most coked out.

The NWO supply this footage to prove that they aren't responsible for the Steiners car accident everyone is talking about. Hall, Nash and Syxx stalk the Steiners at a gas station, try to run them off the road, they end up distracted and the car flips! I always hated this angle, because that's criminal behavior and I think it's stretching things to say that the Steiners would want to just settle this in the ring.